The present invention relates to a system and method incorporating advanced messaging in a wide area wireless personal communication system.
Wireless personal communication systems have varying voice communication ranges. When a user is outside the voice range of the system, calls directed to the user in that wireless personal communication system have nowhere to go and often end in an answering machine or other answering service. Because of the modern day need to be both accessible and mobile, many people carry pagers that operate in a system separate from their wireless or cellular service. The pager allows these users to keep apprised of all calls while outside the voice communications range of the wireless system. Pagers, however, typically only permit communication in one direction so that the user has no means for interacting with the caller or controlling the disposition of the call. Having to use a separate pager involves extra hardware that a person must carry at all times and, at the provider end, requires a separate network of communication facilities.
Currently, there is a need for a system and method for a wide area wireless personal communication system incorporating advanced messaging without the need for separate pagers and completely autonomous paging or messaging systems. Further, there is a need for an advanced messaging system that is integrated with a wireless network and requires a minimum of separate or additional communication lines or specialized equipment to be utilized by a wireless communication system provider. Additionally, a system and method for providing advanced messaging services in existing wireless personal communication systems would be desirable.
The present invention provides a system and method for providing advanced messaging services in a wide area wireless personal communication system. According to a first aspect of the invention, the system is a system for paging a user in an existing wireless personal communication system including a portable personal transceiver unit which is adapted to receive and transmit voice and data information in addition to receiving and responding to paging signals. The portable transceiver unit receives paging signals and responds to paging signals through at least one long range pager. Preferably, the two way messaging capability is integrated into existing wireless communication system protocols and frequency schemes so that the long range pager and personal transceiver unit may utilize existing electronic hardware.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of registering a personal transceiver unit in a two way messaging service area of a wireless personal communications system is provided. A personal transceiver unit monitors broadcasts from transceivers in a voice service area. If no transceivers in the voice service area are detected, the personal transceiver tunes to a predetermined paging frequency. The personal transceiver next acquires a long range pager signal and registers its location with the wireless communications system via the long range pager.